Seahawks beat Packers on wild, crazy and controversial final touchdown

Russell Wilson had one last chance. Down 12-7, just eight seconds left on the clock, 24 yards away from the end zone and facing the Green Bay Packers on fourth down, Wilson took the snap for the biggest play of his short NFL career. A national television audience watched as he backed into the pocket, rolled left away from coverage, rolled back right, rolled left again and looked downfield. Nothing was there — not yet.

So, with the game clock at zero and nothing left to lose, Wilson decided to throw it up in the air, toward the end zone, and let God decide.

Or, at least, the NFL’s replacement refs.

His Hail Mary pass sailed to the left corner, where a clump of players — Seahawks and Packers — went up for it. Wide receiver Golden Tate was Seattle’s main man there; safety M.D. Jennings was there for the Packers.

Both of them, the refs ruled, came down with the catch — though many people are likely to disagree.

“They said it was a simultaneous catch,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said. “And, well, tie goes to the runner. Good call.”

An official’s arms went up to mark a touchdown, and the CenturyLink Field crowd went crazy. Touchdown Seahawks, and Seattle had stolen a 13-12 lead with no time remaining. It was surely one of the wildest endings to ever air on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”

But it wasn’t quite so clear-cut.

With 68,218 waiting in the stands, and millions watching at home, Seahawks and Packers fans alike held their breath as the officials reviewed the play. Minutes went by. The replays seemed questionable, but it was hard to conclude much. It certainly appeared as though Jennings caught the ball as Tate fought for it — Tate’s hand comes off the ball as the two fall to the turf.

The NFL’s replacement officials must have thought the video was inconclusive, because they let the ruling on the field stand. Touchdown Seahawks, and the officials said the game was over. A huge win for Seattle over favored Green Bay.

“The ruling on the final play was a simultaneous catch,” referee Wayne Elliott, who called the TD, said after the game. “Reviewed by replay. Play stands. Both players (with the ball) goes to the offense.”

(Correction: It was replacement official Lance Easley, not Wayne Elliott, who signaled the touchdown on the field. Elliott, however, was ultimately responsible for the call as the lead official Monday.)

But not everyone will agree with the officials’ ruling. That last play will likely be remembered as the most controversial call of this week’s NFL games, and could be remembered as the most controversial call of this referee lockout.

“I was very shocked,” Jennings said after the game. “But, you know, the refs got the last say. So, it is what it is.”

Tate, however, saw the play differently.

“We both had possession of the ball,” he said. “And I didn’t know the rule, but I guess if it’s a tie it goes to the receiver.”

After the review, Seattle’s kicking team headed out on the field for their point-after-touchdown, but players and media and others were already all over the field, and officials said the game was over. Both teams went into their tunnels and into their locker rooms. That is, until, the officials called them back out.

The Seahawks, indeed, still had to kick their PAT. Skeleton crews re-entered the stadium and Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka’s kick was good. The final score — this time, the final final score — was 14-12. A huge, huge win for a Seattle team trying to assert itself on the national scale as a serious contender.

“Well, I told the guys on the sideline, don’t give up,” Wilson said after the game.

Wilson completed 10 of 21 for 130 passing yards Monday night as he struggled again to establish a strong passing game for the Seahawks. But running back Marshawn Lynch came through with 98 yards on 25 carries — though most of them, 71, came in the first half.

It really was a game of two halves. In the first half, Seattle’s defense was absolutely suffocating. The Seahawks sacked Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers eight times Monday — all of them before intermission. Defensive end Bruce Irvin and defensive tackle Brian Mebane each had two. Four of them were by defensive end Chris Clemons, tying a franchise record for number of sacks in a game.

“One of the guys just told me (about the record), but I wasn’t really thinking about it. It never really crossed my mind,” Clemons said after the game. “My thing was to just go out and work on my rushes as much as I do in practice. Just continue to rush throughout the play and never give up.”

Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin comes in for the sack on Packers QB Aaron Rodgers during the first half Monday. (Stephen Brashear/AP Photo)

Those sacks helped hold the Packers to just 47 passing yards and 40 rushing yards in the first half. Seattle went into the locker room with a 7-0 halftime lead and a firm grasp on the game’s momentum. Even though Wilson had just 69 first-half yards, he had a passing touchdown and one of the league’s best running backs to turn to.

But the Packers came out of halftime with renewed energy. Rodgers and running back Cedric Benson led their offense downfield three times, and though Rodgers couldn’t toss a touchdown, he got his team within field-goal distance twice in the third quarter. As the fourth quarter began, Seattle had a slight 7-6 lead.

“We expected them to run the ball in the second half,” Carroll said. “We should have played it better. We should not have let them do that. There was nothing fancy about what they ran, and we had gone so far the other way in rushing the passes that when we had to shift gears, and we tried to prepare our guys, we just didn’t do it well enough.”

Again, as his Seattle counterpart struggled to get things going, Rodgers battled the Seahawks defense and fought back toward the end zone. Once the Packers got within Seattle’s 15-yard line, the NFL’s replacement officials had a hard time figuring out what was going on.

With 9:30 left, Rodgers connected with wide receiver Greg Jennings for an 11-yard touchdown pass, and Green Bay took a 12-7 lead. But, upon further review, the refs said was not a touchdown — Jennings had stepped out of bounds at the 2-yard line, giving the Packers third-and-1 at Seattle’s 2.

On the ensuing play, Rodgers kept the ball and was tackled by Clinton McDonald at the 1-yard line for a sack. The refs spotted the foul and the chains came out to measure it just short of a first down. But with 9:09 left in the game, that play would also get reviewed.

Seattle QB Russell Wilson gets set to pass in the first half Monday. (Stephen Brashear/AP Photo)

And overturned. The refs gave Green Bay the first down and took the sack away from McDonald. So, instead of fourth-and-inches with a chance to kick the go-ahead field goal, the Packers had first-and-goal at Seattle’s 1-yard line.

Benson powered into the pack and across the goal line, giving the Packers a 12-7 lead. They tried a two-point conversion, but Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner broke up the pass.

The Seahawks still had 8:53 left on the clock, but they were in trouble. With little offense so far in the night, they needed to put together a big drive to the end zone. They tried, and it wasn’t exactly pretty.

Wilson and the Seahawks drove all the way to Green Bay’s 7-yard line, thanks largely to a pass-interference call on the Packers, but couldn’t get the ball across the goal line. At the two-minute warning, Seattle had fourth down and 3 yards to go. Wilson’s touchdown pass to Tate soared incomplete, and the Packers got the ball again on downs with 1:58 to go.

This was when Seattle’s defense came up big. They forced a three-and-out as just 57 seconds came off the clock, and got the ball back to the Seahawks’ offense with 46 seconds to play. But Seattle had used up all its timeouts in the process.

Wilson, who had failed to finish up a last-minute drive two weeks ago at Arizona, had a chance for redemption. But the way he’d been playing all night, he needed a miracle.

His first pass went incomplete. His second was a 22-yarder complete to receiver Sidney Rice. With the seconds ticking away, and with a new set of downs, the Seahawks hurried up to the line of scrimmage. Wilson took the snap at 24 seconds — incomplete to Tate. Now just 18 seconds left — incomplete to tight end Evan Moore. Then 12 seconds to go — incomplete to Tate.

But then came that final play. With 8 seconds left on the clock, Wilson and the Seattle offense lined up in the shotgun, the ball at Green Bay’s 24. Wilson took the hike, rolled left, rolled right, rolled back left, and made “Monday Night Football” history.

“It was very unusual,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said after the game. “It was the most unusual football game that I have been a part of. I know it’s been a wild weekend in the NFL. I guess we’re a part of it now.”

That final pass will be one of the most-talked about plays this week, particularly as calls continue for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to finally put an end to the referee lockout that has the league using replacement officials. No matter which way you think that final play should have been called, there’s no doubt it was and will continue to be highly controversial.

It was a play that came down to a judgement call from one replacement official. Whether it was the right or the wrong call, the replacement officials have now directly altered the outcome of a game.

“It’s time for this to be over,” Carroll said of the lockout. “My hat’s off to these officials. They’re doing everything they can do as well as they can. They’re working their tails off. It demonstrates how difficult it is.

“It’s a very, very complex process to handle these games and make these decisions. There’s nothing easy about it, and it takes years and years of experience to pull it off properly and in a timely fashion, and to keep the flow of the game alive and all that. And it’s time for it to be over. The league deserves it; everybody deserves it.”